The present invention relates to embossing systems for embossing items, such as cards, and more particularly to embossing systems for embossing credit cards.
Credit card embossing systems perform a number of well-known operations to emboss a credit card 10 having front and rear surfaces as illustrated respectively in FIGS. 1A and 1B. FIG. 1A illustrates a front surface of a typical embossed credit card and FIG. 1B illustrates the back surface of a typical embossed credit card which optionally may be a so-called xe2x80x9csmartxe2x80x9d card containing an integrated circuit which stores information about the cardholder. During use, the stored information is read to determine if the card is valid and also to determine information about the cardholder. The front surface of the credit card 10 includes an embossed account number field 12 and a plurality of additional cardholder information fields 14, 16 and 18 which may vary in number from the three lines of embossing as illustrated. The account number and cardholder information is embossed with an embossing device. The backside of the credit card illustrated in FIG. 1B contains a magnetic stripe 20 on which is typically written three separate tracks of magnetic information used by various industries for point of sale processing. Additionally, the account number or other information may be indent imprinted in an indent imprint field 22. If the card 10 is a smart card, it will contain an integrated circuit and connecting wiring (not illustrated) storing credit information, debit information or other information, which is accessed when the card is positioned such that an electrical contact is made with the smart card contacts 24 of a contact field 25 to an electrical device which reads the stored information.
Embossed characters contained in the account number field 12 and characters contained in the fields 14, 16 and 18 are highlighted by a heated colored foil which is forced into contact with the tops of the embossed characters. A heated platen drives colored foil into contact with the tops of the embossed characters to fuse the heated foil to the tops of the credit cards. Indent imprinting uses a male die of an embosser to force an ink conveying ribbon into the depression caused by the indent imprinting produced by the male die.
The throughput embossing rate of a credit card embosser has a substantial effect on its size. High volume units, which are capable of processing over a thousand cards an hour, have been developed by the Assignee and other companies which utilize a straightline transport system which conveys a credit card through a number of processing stations including embossing, magnetic stripe encoding, smart card processing and tipping, which is exemplified by the Assignee""s U.S. Pat. No. 5,837,991. These systems are physically large and have a transport path extending several feet along which the credit cards are conveyed to stations for performing the aforementioned processing operations. Such systems are incapable of utilization in small spatial environments, such as on a desktop, or in proximity to where other business related services are performed.
Smaller embossing systems have been developed which have lower throughput rates which also have a linear transport path. These systems perform the same processes as the larger higher throughput embosser systems and are exemplified by the Assignee""s U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,406,422 and 5,506,422. While embossing systems with slower throughput rates are physically smaller than the aforementioned high throughput embossing systems, they are still sufficiently large that the linear transport path is several feet long and, therefore, are also not capable of being positioned conveniently in small spaces or on a desk which is used for other purposes.
Many users of credit card embossers, such as banks and other financial institutions, have the need to issue credit cards on the spot without having an embosser with a high throughput rate. Furthermore, it is highly desirable from a spatial utilization viewpoint that lower throughput embossers be usable in a small volume such as a xe2x80x9ctowerxe2x80x9d computer chassis. The linear transport paths which characterize the Assignee""s aforementioned embossing systems, as disclosed in the aforementioned patents, do not permit such an implementation in a space such as that occupied by a tower computer chassis.
The present invention is an embossing system, an embosser for embossing items and a method of operation thereof. The embossed items hereinafter, without limitation in describing the preferred embodiments of the invention are referred to as xe2x80x9ccardsxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9ccredit cardsxe2x80x9d. An embossing system in accordance with the invention has a reduced physical size, in comparison to the prior art. While reduced in physical size, an embossing system in accordance with the invention includes an embossing station for both embossing and indent imprinting a card, a magnetic encoding station for recording multiple tracks of magnetic information on a magnetic media located on the card, a smart card processing station for recording programming or other information within an integrated circuit memory and associated circuitry located within the card, and a tipping station for applying highlighting to raised embossed characters produced by the embosser within a housing having a size approximately of a tower computer chassis. The embossing system of reduced physical size in accordance with the present invention may be easily placed on a desktop in association with other common business systems which are present in banks and other commercial institutions having a need to issue credit cards without a high throughput capability to permit the complete processing of credit card blanks into finished credit cards, including embossing, magnetic encoding, smart card encoding and tipping, which heretofore has not been possible with most prior art systems because of their larger physical size.
The invention locates the various stations at which card processing operations are processed, including an embossing station on a plurality of transport paths. A carriage holds the card to be processed as it is conveyed along the transport paths and is positioned by a carriage transport at the various stations where card processing operations are preformed including embossing. The carriage transport is programmable to move the carriage to locations defined by an X,Y coordinate system and moves the carriage to positions along the plurality of transport paths which comprise horizontal and vertical transport path segments. The transport path segments compress the physical length of the transport path by permitting a close spacing of the stations which permits the complete transport path to be located longitudinally along a tower computer chassis.
In a preferred application, the complete transport path comprises a plurality of horizontal transport paths on which the plurality of processing stations are located and at least one vertical transport path connecting the plurality of horizontal transport paths. Each vertical transport path joins at least one horizontal transport path at a position between stations. In a preferred application, all of the plurality of stations are located on the horizontal transport paths and each vertical transport path joins one horizontal transport path at a location between only two stations which reduces the physical length of the horizontal transport paths to a minimum because only one open section along the joined horizontal transport path is necessary to provide clearance for all vertical movements.
The embossing station performs both embossing operations and indent operations in a compact spatial volume which contributes to the reduction in size of the overall embossing system in accordance with the invention. The embossing station includes a pair of rotatably mounted wheels which are fixed circumferentially relative to each other. Each wheel has radially projecting fingers which have dies or flat surfaces mounted at an outer radial end thereof. One of the wheels carries male dies to emboss or indent imprint characters and another of the wheels carries female dies to emboss characters or flat surfaces to support the side of the card opposite to the side which is indent imprinted. The wheels are preferably molded from plastic making them disposable which reduces the cost of manufacture of the embossing system and facilitates replacement of the wheels without great expense after an interval of use such as one year. A wheel positioning mechanism rotates the wheels to an embossing position at which individual characters are embossed or characters are indent imprinted. A simplified embosser drive mechanism, without interposers, drives a pair of rams which are movable from a first withdrawn position to a second extended position which causes the pairs of male and female dies or a pair of an indent imprint male die and a flat surface to contact the card to emboss a character or indent imprint a character. An embosser drive including a motor activates the rams. The embosser drive includes first and second pairs of pivotable links and an assembly which is coupled to a drive point which is pivotably attached to an attachment point of the second pair of pivotable links.
Indent imprinting is accomplished by the embosser with an assembly carrying a marking ribbon which is pivotably mounted to swing between a withdrawn position and a deployed position at which embossing of the card with a pair of male and female dies is performed which positions the marking ribbon between one of the male dies used for indent imprinting and the surface of the card into which an indent imprint is formed. The pivotable attachment of the assembly carrying the marking ribbon to the embosser contributes to its compact size as a consequence of only a single pair of character bearing wheels being used to perform embossing operations with additional characters on the wheels being used for indent imprinting making only the pivoting of the assembly carrying the marking ribbon necessary for implementing indent imprinting.
As a consequence of the present invention being designed to be used in xe2x80x9copenxe2x80x9d business space, such as in financial institutions, the front panel of the housing of the embossing system contains three openings which respectively permit the addition and removing of cards, removing of the assembly carrying the ribbon used for indent imprinting, both for the purpose of replacing the consumable roll of ribbon when used up and further removing the ribbon at night or periods of nonuse to avoid potential security problems which could occur if unrestricted access to the ribbon, which has been used for indent imprinting, were to occur and removing of the tipping assembly to permit replacement of the consumable roll of tipping material used during tipping and further removal at night or periods of nonuse to preclude the reading of customer information which is available by reading the negative image produced by the removing of the tipping material.
The overall system is controlled by a controller which may be a programmed PC. Each of the plurality of stations contains sensors which read the position of the card and other components for purposes of positioning and control. The embossing system has complete programmable control of processing at all of the stations of the embossing system.
The present invention may be practiced with conventional embossing, magnetic encoding, smart card writing and tipping devices, but preferably, is practiced with the embodiments of these devices described below. Furthermore, the invention is not limited to the aspects of the invention summarized above with other combinations and subcombinations being within the scope of the invention.
An embossing system in accordance with the invention including a plurality of stations including an embossing station; a carriage for holding an item to be processed by the system at the plurality of stations including the embossing station; a carriage transport which moves the carriage while holding the item to be processed along a plurality of spaced apart transport paths; and wherein at least one station is disposed on each of the plurality of transport paths and the carriage transport moves the carriage holding the item along the plurality of transport paths to each of the plurality of processing stations at which processing is performed on the item. The plurality of processing paths are vertically separated and located in a vertical plane. Each of the plurality of transport paths are horizontal paths. The transport paths further comprise at least one vertical transport path connecting the plurality of horizontal transport paths, each vertical transport path joining at least one horizontal transport path between stations located on the at least one horizontal transport path to which each vertical transport path is joined. All of the plurality of stations are located on the horizontal paths and each vertical transport path joins the at least one horizontal path at a location between at least one station which is located inboard from another station located on the at least one horizontal transport path to which each vertical transport path is joined.
A magnetic encoding station is disposed on one of the plurality of transport paths for encoding a magnetic media on the item.
The embossing station is programmable to emboss the item with a plurality of characters which are formed by contact of corresponding pairs of male-female dies against a front and a back surface of the item to-emboss at least one line of characters. The embossing station further indent imprints the item by contact of pairs of male dies and a corresponding flat surfaces respectively against the front and the back surface of the item with a marking ribbon disposed between the male dies and one surface of the item so that the male die drives the ribbon into one surface of the item when the male die contacts the ribbon and the flat surface contacts another surface of the item.
The embossing station further comprises an assembly carrying the marking ribbon which is pivotably mounted to swing between a withdrawn position at which embossing of if the item with the pair of male and female dies is performed and a deployed position which positions the marking ribbon between one of the male dies used for indent imprinting and the surface of the item into which indent imprinting is performed.
A tipping station is disposed on one of the plurality of transport paths at which highlighting is applied to raised embossed characters.
A smart card processing station is disposed on one of the plurality of transport paths for writing information into a memory located within the item.
A tipping station is disposed on one of the plurality of transport paths at which highlighting is applied to raised embossed characters; and the embossing station is located on one card transport path and the tipping station, smart card processing station and the station for encoding a magnetic media are located on another card transport path.
The embossing station further comprises a pair of rotatably mounted wheels which are fixed circumferentially relative to each other, each wheel having radially projecting fingers which have dies or flat surfaces mounted at an outer radial end thereof, one of the wheels carrying dies in a form of male characters and another of the wheels carrying female dies in a form of characters or flat surfaces; a wheel positioning mechanism for rotating the wheels to an embossing position at which individual characters are embossed into the item or at which characters are indent imprinted into the item; and an embosser drive mechanism for driving pairs of male and female dies or male dies and flat surfaces inward into contact with the front and back surface of the item to produce an embossed character or an indent imprinted character; and wherein the carriage transport moves the item to be embossed and indent imprinted to programmable X,Y coordinates between individual pairs of male and female dies, or a male die and a flat surface to emboss or indent imprint a least one line of characters.
The embosser drive further includes a pair of rams which are movable from a first withdrawn position to a second extended position which causes the pairs of male-female dies or an indent imprint die and a flat surface to contact the item to emboss a character or indent imprint a character; and a drive which activates the pair of rams including a first pair of pivotable links which pivot about a pivot axis which respectively pivot between a withdrawn position to an extended position which drive the rams between the first withdrawn position and the second extended position; and a motor, coupled to the first pair of pivotable links, for driving the first pair of pivotable links between the withdrawn and extended positions.
The embosser drive further includes a second pair of pivotable links, one of the second pair of links being pivotably attached to one of the first pair of pivotable links and another of the second pair of pivotable links being attached to another of the first pair of pivotable links, the second pair of pivotable links also being pivotably attached together at a drive point; and an assembly, coupled to the drive point and to the motor, which reciprocates the drive point between first and second positions which cause the corresponding movement of attachment points of the first and second pairs of links between first and second positions which causes the pair of rams to move between the first withdrawn position and the second extended position.
The embossing station is located on one card transport path and the tipping station, smart card processing station and the station for encoding a magnetic media are located on another card transport path.
A supply station contains a stack of items to be processed; and a picking mechanism picks individual items from the stack and conveys an individual picked item to a position along one of the spaced apart transport paths for holding by the carriage.
A surface of the item which is to be embossed is horizontally disposed when the individual items are in the stack; and the picking mechanism removes an item in the stack which is located in a horizontal plane and rotates the individual item from the horizontal plane to a vertical plane in which the carriage holds the item for processing by the plurality of stations including the embossing station.
The plurality of the spaced apart transport paths are disposed parallel to a longitudinal dimension of a housing containing the embossing system; and a front surface of the housing is attached at an end of the longitudinal dimension of the housing through which an access opening is provided to provide the items to be processed by the embossing system.
A tipping station is disposed on one of the plurality of transport paths at which highlighting is applied to raised embossed characters; and wherein the plurality of spaced apart transport paths are disposed parallel to a longitudinal dimension of the housing containing the embossing system; and a front surface of the housing is attached at an end of the housing through which a pair of access openings are provided through which the assembly and the tipping station are respectively removed.
An embosser in accordance with the invention includes a pair of rotatably mounted wheels which are fixed circumferentially relative to each other, each wheel having radially projecting fingers which have characters mounted at an outer radial end thereof, one of the wheels carrying male dies and one of the wheels carrying female dies with pairs of male and female dies being activated to emboss characters; a wheel positioning mechanism for rotating the wheels to an embossing position at which individual characters are embossed into an item by activation of a corresponding pair of male and female dies; a carriage for holding an item to be embossed with the characters mounted on the outer radial end of the radially projecting fingers; a carriage transport which moves the carriage along orthogonal X and Y axes while holding the item to be embossed to position the item for embossing of characters; a pair of rams which are movable from a first withdrawn position to a second extended position which activates corresponding pairs of male and female dies to contact the item to emboss a character; an embosser drive, coupled to the pair of rams, for driving the pair of rams between the first withdrawn position and the second extended position to cause individual characters to be embossed at the embossing position; and a controller for controlling the wheel positioning mechanism, the carriage, the carriage transport and the embosser drive.
The embosser drive includes a first pair of pivotable links which pivot about a pivot axis which respectively pivot between a withdrawn position and an extended position which drive the rams between the first withdrawn position and second extended position and a motor, coupled to the first pair of pivotable links, for driving the first pair of pivotable links between the withdrawn and extended positions.
The embosser drive further includes a second pair of pivotable links, one of the second pair of links being pivotably attached to one of the first pair of pivotable links and another of the second pair of pivotable links being attached to another of the first pair of pivotable links, the second pair of pivotable links also being pivotably attached together at a drive point; and an assembly, coupled to the drive point and to the motor, which reciprocates the drive point between first and second positions which cause the corresponding movement of attachment points of the first and second pairs of pivotable links between first and second positions which causes the pair of rams to move between the first withdrawn position and the second extended position.
The embosser drive further includes a crank driven by the motor including an eccentric point which moves eccentrically relative to an axis of rotation of the motor to which the drive point is coupled with rotation of a shaft of the motor causing the drive point to reciprocate.
A plurality of male dies and corresponding flat surfaces mounted at the outer radial ends of the fingers are provided for indent imprinting characters into one side of the item with a marking ribbon located between the male die and one surface of the item when the male die contacts the marking ribbon; an assembly carries the marking ribbon which is pivotably mounted relative to the dies and the flat surface to swing between a withdrawn position at which embossing of the item with the male and female dies is performed and a deployed position which positions the marking ribbon between the male die and the surface of the item into which indent imprinting is performed; and the controller controls swinging of the assembly carrying the marking ribbon between the withdrawn position and the deployed position. The pairs of wheels are molded from plastic. The male dies and flat surfaces used for indent imprinting and embossing special characters are metallic and are removably attached to the outer radial end of a plurality of fingers of each of the pair of wheels.
A method of embossing an item in an embossing system including a plurality of stations including an embossing station, a carriage for holding an item to be processed by the system at the plurality of stations including the embossing station, a carriage transport which moves the carriage while holding the item to be processed, and at least one station disposed on a plurality of spaced apart transport paths in accordance with the invention includes holding the item to be embossed with the carriage; moving the carriage transport along the plurality of spaced apart transport paths sequentially to each of the stations on the spaced apart transport paths; and at each of the stations performing processing on the item including embossing the item at one of the stations. At least two horizontal transport paths and at least one vertical transport path are connected to at least one of the at least two horizontal transport paths; and wherein all of the stations are located on the at least two horizontal transport paths. The at least one vertical transport path is connected to at least one of the at least two horizontal transport paths at a single location therein. The connection is between a pair of stations located on one of the at least two horizontal paths. The at least two horizontal transport paths are parallel to a longitudinal axis of a housing containing the embossing system. The transport paths are located in a vertical plane; and the embossing station comprises a pair of embossing wheels having a horizontal axis of rotation and a plane between the wheels in which the item is embossed is disposed in the vertical plane.